About Outlandish

Dear diary…well here we are, just days away from the great gathering, and the end of my Sassenach scribblings for now…

Well what a journey it has been indeed! I have learnt much, slept little, only relaxed for seconds at a time, yet the prevailing thought has been –“it will be worth it!!!” Anything you put this much energy into, you have to get back I am certain, so if that is the case- this is going to one hell of a weekend!!

So people keep asking me over the last few weeks are you excited?? And truthfully, I haven’t been, there has just been too much to organise and that I’ve been responsible for, to have space to let the emotion in – there literally hasn’t been time for it.

So I have been waiting for this ‘emotional event’ to happen…. When.. will .. it come!?!?

Last night I dreamt of the wedding the whole night, yet I was on edge with this nervous-type energy…that was the first time I think I had ever been nervous during my sleep!!

And I don’t feel nervous about the wedding in real time at all yet…

So it has left me pondering today the difference between excitement and nervousness… because they are driven by kind of the same sort of energy… just one is with a positive feeling of happiness and the other is with fear or dread…

So that is my challenge I think in the days ahead and for the event that is coming. To stay in the light, the positive and the happiness, and not enter into the darkness of the fear of the ‘what if’s” but stay in the “what shall be!”. (Or just to “feel the fear and do it anyway!” which has always been one of my favourite sayings.)

So Finally just last week when me and my ‘Jamie’ were working out the finer details of our ceremony, all of a sudden there was this raw energy there, and the vision was crisp and clear and AMAZING! This is going to be absolutely incredible once-in –a lifetime stuff! And I was flooded with this buzz that lifted me up and carried me away….

And so it is here! The excitement is with me, and I drift off from time to time into my thoughts and visualise all I imagine and feel this is going to be. So that is the energy that drives me now in these final days and hours of preparation.

This will be one of the best days of our lives; an absolute honour, gift and privilege; and if what scares you makes you feel the most alive, then this will be LIVING in is truest sense!

We will embrace it, love it, feel it and treasure it, and thank you all for being a part of it!

Farewell for now, yet see you all very soon,Your soon-to-be-wed- Sassenach, Michaela

Well time has been hurtling along at a rate of knots; and this Sassenach has barely come up for air in the last 9 weeks… so so so many details to think about, consider, plan and prepare for; I’ve felt like I was on an ocean -there has been so many ups and downs!

Sometimes still and oddly, strangely, eerily calm; then the sails would suddenly flare, storm winds would appear as if from no-where and the next wave would rise up and threaten to topple this oft-times fragile little boat of mine.

More than once I’ve fallen in, swimming in the ocean of overwhelm, wondering if, or when it would just rise up and consume me; drowning in thoughts in what seemed like an sea of chaos. Often only treading water, just about managing to keep my head above it and hoping that the next wave just… doesn’t …. come…

And yet I knew that it would, and has, and even in those apparent periods of suspicious calm, the storm could be just a breath or a heartbeat away again.

So the tumultuous journey has been..

I’m waiting now for the time when there is space larger than a breath, where the ease returns and I can sail a little slower, swim with the current, set the sails with the wind and just cruise…

My first such exhale was last week, after which I had spent days feeling into and writing the ceremony… when this was finally done, I felt a great sense of peace enveloping me, like a big exhale; that key piece was finally in place!

Now, I set my sails towards sewing my own costumes, and so there is creative, more relaxing, fun play on the horizon!! Land ahoy at last!!

I do still plan on walking to the beach every day though, and reconnecting to that sense of peace and tranquillity again.. so lets just hope the ocean remains calm!?

Outlandish 2018 would like to welcome Saltire EstateSaltire Estate will provide prizes at the dinner venuesIncluding ‘Clare Chardonnay’ yum!!!

Saltire Estate is a Hunter Valley winery with proud Scottish heritage. Owned by the Leslie family since 2006, the estate produces a vast range of quality wines at great prices including the Clare Chardonnay! Did you know that the first vines planted in the Hunter Valley were planted by James Busby of Edinburgh in the early 1830s? Many of the vines now in the region were grafted from his original stock which he brought to Australia from Europe. The Saltire Estate Cellar Door is open Saturday & Sunday from 10am-4pm but our online store never closes!

Well with the wedding countdown well and truly on, and the big gathering just a few weeks away… the time has come to make tough decisions and get real with actively making one my own dresses.

That was all well and good in theory, but the place between theory and creativity entrapped me…guessing and second guessing all my previous ideas and hoping against hope that I have the skill base to back it up.

Trying to find a happy place between my crazy romantic ideals of what is and what’s not even remotely possible, if not functional and practical.

To me- why should practicality even come into the equation, being one of such romantic ideals as anything should be possible if you want it to be so!?

Apparently the dressmaking world may not agree with me on that one..

And so it came to pass this week, that I sat there on the floor, with my dress literally in bits and pieces all around me, wondering “what the hell am I doing here?

How did I even arrive at this place???”

“My wedding is just weeks away and my dress is actually in tatters on the floor!”

Intense dress stress!!!

My original idea was to enjoy the creative process in taking a concept and bringing it into 3D form, but then reality came crashing down around my ears and doubts in my ability and the expected outcome, within the given time frame have hampered my progress considerably.

I am however not permanently discouraged, but have taken time out to less overwhelming pursuits instead, and when the creative urges return with full gusto I shall forge ahead, doubts aside, to see where the process takes me.

I do have back up plans, so will just have to see where I get lead and what takes shape! I’m excited to see what eventuates!!

Well the wedding is feeling closer and to connect more to the event we passed through Glen Innes last week to reconnect with the special Standing Stones which we adore.

We headed up to the stones at dusk just as the sun was setting, and the Stones were looking magical in the orange light, casting long shadows in their mystical glory, standing loud and proud in their magnificence. It does feel like an honour to be present in their presence and it was fun to play in them again and act out some of what we know is to come.

We then had the privilege of meeting with our high priestess Mel for the first time, and discuss the ceremony in more detail and some old Celtic rituals that we would like to incorporate. It was wonderful to meet her and get a sense of what she will bring to the gathering and our special exchange.

It has paved the way to us going back in time to places and spaces that we have shared in our journey over the years, and retelling parts of it to our children so they understand our love story, where it began, how it evolved and how it continues to this very day.

Gifting this to our children is perhaps the greatest treasure of all, as they will know, understand and remember, all that was, is and could be…

Hopefully they will carry this with them for generations to come; which fills my heart with a sense of abiding peace that is difficult to encompass with words alone.

On the eve of your ‘Outlandish’ experience in Glen Innes, mix and mingle with like minded fans while you enjoy the Pipers in the Paintings at the Gawura Gallery. Be welcomed by the haunting and evocative tones of the bagpipes, setting the scene for your weekend. Hot finger food, a gallery tour, wine and cheese included.